Once Upon A Hunt
by Stalkress
Summary: One night, when Nick went for a run to clear his head of the depressed state he was in. He heard a scream that would change his life forever...if he let it.
1. In The Clearing

**Title:** Once Upon a Hunt

**Author:** Stalkress

**Rating:** T for now, it may change

**Summary:** Nick has wanted to settle down and start a family ever since his friend Clayton had found a mate. One night, when Nick went for a run to clear his head of the depressed state he was in. He heard a scream that would change his life forever... if he let it. NickOC pairing

**Theme:** Romance/Drama/Comedy/Supernatural

**Category:** Kelley Armstrong

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of Kelley Armstrong's characters, plot, or story line. Though this somewhat follows what happened in her books the events that occur are purely out of my imagination. I do, however, own all of the characters I created myself i.e. characters that do not appear in her series.

**A/N Note:** **This is my first fanfic and one that I've been meaning to write but hadn't found the time to. The reason I wrote this fanfic was because I've always had a soft spot for Nick and want him to be happy and finally break free of his father's expectations for his life. This chapter is sort of like a prologue since I don't know if I'll be posting the second chapter and writing more after that. As always it depends on the readers and reviewers :p **

**Chapter 1: **In the Clearing

Nick POV

A deer's scream ripped through the silent forest. It stopped me dead in my tracks. As the scream died away my joy did as well. Curiosity took over me. As far as I knew I was the only predator for miles around and that scream had sounded quite close.

I set off at an easy lope. Whatever had hurt- killed- that deer would probably be eating it when I arrived. _Which is exactly what I want,_ I thought. _I wanted to see who it was but not be seen myself_.

I caught the scent of the deer's blood coming from the west so I turned toward it. The trees thinned quickly so I slowed down to a silent crawl and approached what I assumed was the clearing holding the predator feasting on its prey.

As I reached the last bush I paused to make sure I was downwind, and then very, _very_quietly approached the clearing through the protection of the bush. As I pushed my muzzle out, the deer was indeed dead but it was the predator that surprised me. I silently recoiled from the bush, deeper into the woods. As I backpedalled, my hind paw snapped a twig. Instantly, I forgot all caution and stealth and ran full tilt from the clearing, deeper into the forest. What I saw in the clearing would haunt me for the rest of my life.

OC POV

A twig snapped behind me. I whirled around. The woods were silent but the ground was shaking with the thunder of retreating paws. I turned back to the deer. It was my favourite species of prey, which was why it was already picked clean. _I really need to eat slower,_ I thought. _The night isn't even half over and I'm bored. I might as well see whom it was that intruded on my meal, finished or not._


	2. A History

**A/N Note:** **Nobody hate me but I felt that I had to go back. For all of those who are reading a fanfic from this story and haven't read the actual story this is for you and for all those who have read the story and are already big fans this is just a recap from Nick's prospective. Feel free to comment or make suggestions, either are welcome and appreciated. :)**

**Chapter 2:** A History

As I ran the braches of the bushes in the underground seemed to catch at my fur to slow me down. I could not slow down even if I wanted to, all of my instincts told me to get away from the clearing. Whatever was in there was neither wolf nor human and from the looks of the skeleton was extremely dangerous if you were on her hit list. Why couldn't I stop thinking about her? _I'll answer that later_ I thought.

I ran home so fast that what had taken me two hours previously now took me forty-five minutes. As soon as I reached my house, I jumped through my already open window onto the floor of my room, made my change as fast as possible, and then fell into a fitful sleep on my bed.

_My muzzle poked through the bush, just enough so I could see and smell the predator in the clearing. The first thing that registered was that it was female. The next thing was that the deer's carcass had already been picked clean, down to its bones. As I looked again at the female, she started to change. The strange thing was that__it looked like water, it was such a smooth transition and she still had all of her clothes on! __All these facts made me recoil from the clearing. Then a twig snapped…_

I jolted awake, panting like I'd just run about two hundred miles. Even though I was a full-grown werewolf it took me, at best, a couple of minutes to change forms. There was something abnormal about her; she had changed forms in at least ten seconds. That was way beyond the skill of any werewolves I knew, Pack or otherwise.

It was clear the she was not a werewolf. What was she then? Did it really matter? She was the first female that had haunted me this much since Elena became a part of the Pack, and Clayton's mate.

Clayton and I had been best friends ever since Jeremy had brought him to the Pack when he was about six years old. Clayton had been bitten as a child and had been able to changes forms earlier than any child born as a werewolf. This made him an enemy of sorts to the werewolf children who were unable to change until they were eighteen, at the earliest. Jeremy and my father, Antonio, had thrown us together to see if we would get along and, to no one's surprise, we did. From that day forward Clay and I were best friends. Well as good as we could be since Clay was more wolf than man in his thought process and he was as antisocial as possible, despite my best efforts.

I had tried my best to make him more social by dragging him to parties when we were in our late teens and our early twenties. I eventually gave up on him when he was not attracted to any females of the human species that I introduced to him; he wanted none of them because he wanted a mate for life, much like a wolf does. Which is why when Elena came into his life he was determined make her his mate. Clay had, in fact, bitten Elena when she was brought home to Stonehaven to meet Jeremy. No human women in our recorded history had ever survived a werewolf bite. It shocked all of the Pack that she had survived to become the only female werewolf existing today. Clay was pleased for a little while that she had survived. Throughout her first year of being a werewolf and Clay's intended mate she had run back to her home in Toronto many times trying to save what little bit of her human life she had left. It never truly worked because for some reason or another she returned to Stonehaven and to Clay.

Even though Clay knew that she would all ways come back, it bothered him when she left, not only because she was his mate but also because she was the only female werewolf that we knew of. This fact had been another selling feature that fuelled my obsession of her that haunted me. The only thing that held me back from full out courting her was the fact that she was Clay's chosen mate, he loved her very much, and our long friendship would be nothing if he thought I was a danger to her. I eventually got over my obsession as Elena's visits became more permanent and her position as Clay's mate solidified.

The fact that she would never be mine gave me more pain than I had ever felt. I soon realized that what I wanted was a mate for life, like Elena is for Clay. Over the past decade I have never felt the emotion that Elena invoked in me until I saw that dangerously intriguing predator in the clearing last night. The feelings that she invoked in me were stronger than those I had for Elena. Surprisingly.

**A/N: Okay tell me what you think about this new instalment of the story. If you want you can suggest a name for the OC. I haven't come up with on that suits her. There will be credit given. Maybe a beta position or at least information and/or chapter excerpts given in advance to the release of the upcoming chapters.**


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